One of my goals as an educator is to improve parent involvement in the lives of their children. In today's busy world finding time to spend together is difficult; spending quality time is even more difficult. Authorities recommend parents read to their children to promote language development and vocabulary growth. There were two Web2.0 tools I explored , the first was StoryJumper.com. This allows you or your child to be the author. They have templates you can use or you may want to create your own book using their characters, scenes, or even your own photographs to write your book. Story Jumper will even publish your book and for $25.00 you may purchase a hardcopy of the book. This would be a great site for parents or grandparents with the urge to be an author and the time to do it.The second Web2.0 tool I investigated was Story Something.com. Story Something will deliver to your email personalized stories once a week on Fridays or you can select an option to select when you want a new story. The stories are personalized with information you provide, such as your children's names, name for their father, mother, and grandparents. They even include the pets. There are several stories available,from adventure, fantasy, magic, family, science, animals, etc. I chose The Jungle in the Attic using my grandchildren for the information. Surprisingly, the conflict between the boy in the book and his sister are very realistic and something they would both have done. The story is very interesting and I can't wait to share it with my grandchildren.
To encourage family time, I would suggest parents select to have a new book delivered each week on Friday so they will have a new book each week. The parents are then free to look at their weekly schedule, select a night that isn't rushed and set aside twenty minutes of time to share the book with their children. This time should be blocked out each week on the same day and time if possible so that the children know it is coming. The children and parents will look forward to this time together. Thus parents snuggling with their children and reading a book in which the children star, are providing quality learning time with minimal effort.
The children will love the stories since they are the main characters. The books once printed off can be saved in a report folder or a notebook with page protectors for the children to read over and over again.
